Clock or watch key



(No Model.)

' G. D. CLARK.

GLOGK 0R WATGE KEY. No 414,677. Patented Nov. 12, 1889-.

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UNITE STATES,

PATENT GEORGE D. CLARK, OF PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

CLOCK OR WATCH KEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 414,677, dated November 12, 1889.

I Application filed February 18,1889. serial No. 300,297. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plainville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clock or Watch Keys, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in clock and watch keys of the class in which the barrel and handle are formed of separate pieces and rigidly secured together; and the objects of my invention are simplicity and economy of construction and general efiiciency of the article.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my key in its preferred form. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the barrel portion thereof. Fig. 3 is a view of the bandle portion prior to attachment. Figs. 4., 5, and 7 are side elevations of barrels of a slightly-modified construction, and Fig. 6 is a view of a handle adapted for said barrels.

A in all of the figures designates the barrel, and B the handle. The barrel is provided with the usual socket to receive the windingstem of the clock or watch, as in ordinary keys. The upper end of each barrel is provided with a short transverse slot 8, (shown in Figs. 2, 4, 5, and 7,) the bottom of which slot is indicated by the transverse broken line 9 in Fig. 1. I prefer to form this barrel with a rib or band 10, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the sides of which form shoulders. I also slot this band longitudinally with the barrel, as at 11, Fig. 2, at points immediately in front of the slot 8, taking care, however, to leave retainingshoulders upon that side of the band which is farthest from the slot 8. The general contour of the handle B may be in any pleasing design. It is blanked out from sheet metal and provided with a short.

straight edge 12 to be received in the slot 8 of the barrel, and upon the two sides of said edge 12 with arms 13 13. This handle is placed upon the barrel with its short straight edge 12 pressed firmly against the bottom of the slot 8, and with its arms 13 in the longitudinal slots 11, and the ends of said arms are then bent down to hook over the retaining-shoulders at the lower side of the band 10, and thereby prevent the handle from being withdrawn from the slot in the end of the key-barrel. The longitudinal slots 11 also serve to strengthen the key against a wrenching action.

In Fig. 3 I have represented the extreme outer ends of the arms 13 as formed straight, to be afterward bent so as to hook over the retaining-shoulders on the keydoarrel; but, if desired, the hooked ends may be formed in blanking out, as shown in Fig. 6, 'and then the body of the arms be bent inwardly to force said hooks over the retaining-shoulders.

\Vhile I prefer in all cases to employ the band 10, said band is not essential, as retaining-shoulders may be formed by merely sinking holes at the proper points in opposite sides of the barrel, as at ll in Fig. 4, or by forming an annular groove, as at 15, Fig. 5, or by cutting two transverse slots upon opposite sides of the barrel, as at 16, Fig. 7. In Figs. 5 and 7 I also provide the opposite sides of the barrel with longitudinal slots 11, for the same purpose as in Fig. 2. The handle, Fig. 6, is applicable to either of these barrels, Figs. l, 5, and 7, by placing its straight edge 12 in the slot 8 and then forcing the hooked ends of the arms over the retaining-shoulders, and, when the longitudinal slotsll are present, forcing the inner edges of the arms into said slots.

By my invention the construction of the. key is much more simple and inexpensive than the ordinary mode of rigidly attaching sheet-metal handles to a barrel by a deep slot and then drilling and pinning to'securc the parts together, while at the same time my key is of a superior strength, the handle being rigidly and immovably secured to the barrel.

I claim as my invention- 1. The herein-described clock or watch key, consisting of a barrel provided with a slotted end and retainingshoulders in front of said slot, and the sheet-metal handle provided with an edge seated in said slot and having hooked arms extending therefrom over the retaining-shoulder, substantially as described, and for 'the purpose specified.

2. In a clock or Watch key consisting of an arms within said longitudinal slots, substankey-barrel and separately-formed sheet-metal t-ially as described, and for the purpose specihandle, the barrel provided With retainingfied.

shoulders and longitudinal slots on opposite GEORGE D. CLARK. 5 sides thereofland the sheet-metal handle hav- Witnesses:

ing hooked arms extending over said retain- O. P. BARRON,

ing-shonlders, with the inner edges of the H. PIERCE. 

